


Snowflake

by Doombunny



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Light Angst, Mentors, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:40:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21644626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doombunny/pseuds/Doombunny
Summary: Written for the 25 days of Christmas Challenge over on Tumblr hosted by @PanicFob.  The Day 1 Challenge was SnowflakeBelle Porter has worked all her life to get her dream job, but now it might be all over
Relationships: Steve Rogers x OFC, Tony Stark x OFC
Kudos: 16





	Snowflake

Waking back to the compound following a particularly brutal training session Belle used her sleeve to wipe the tears that were falling down her face, leaving cold trails in their wake. Being a part of the team that worked with the Avengers was her dream, she had worked hard through college, taking courses that would support her application no matter how dull or difficult she found them. Every activity that she had undertaken had been calculated, planned and executed with this one goal in mind. Of course she had to put other experiences on hold, things like boys and dating and the usual college experiences. It had made college a little lonely but she would tell herself it would all be worth it in the end, hard work to make the dream work.

Getting her acceptance letter had been one of the happiest days of her life and had been on cloud nine. She had ridden her high through the first few months, the theory lessons and training in tactics had taken some work but it wasn’t anything that she wasn’t used to. She was able to put in the extra effort out of hours and get good evaluations. Belle progressed through to situational training and could barely contain her excitement when Maria Hill had come in and explained that these sessions, as well as being mandatory would be run by the actual Avengers. This was it ! She would be working directly with the actual Avengers.

Reality came and bit hard in the first week of situational sessions. Looking at the videos and studying them, asking questions of Captain Rogers, Sargent Barnes or Agent Romanoff had come easy, but the moment Belle stepped onto the physical training ground it all went to shit. She was fit, and physically able, but what she was able to see fro a distance was lost to her up close. She put it down to nerves at the start but as the sessions and the month progressed she couldn’t seem to move forward, Watching the videos back in the review sessions she could see her mistakes from a mile away. With each mistake her confidence fell a little more, she slept a little less and worried a whole hell of a lot. The competition within her intake group was high and as one of the few women in her group she had target on her back to some the more macho men, especially Trainee’s Jackson and Burns. Both had approached her early on looking to ‘have some fun’ as they put it. While she hadn’t partaken in the college dating scene she wasn’t a nun, she knew that they wanted sex. She turned them down gently, explaining that she had to focus on her studies but she appreciated their attention, but they had obviously taken offense. They made needling comments in the sessions she did well on it was irritating but she just ignored them. As soon as she started to fail at a class though they had been ready and waiting to jump on her. Those needling comments became more barbed and questioned whether she had been getting help from someone to do as well as she had to date. They had been more overt in their suggestion that she should just stick to looking pretty and being a secretary, or a waitress if that was too much. Of course they didn’t say these things when people like Maria Hill or any of the others were around and Belle wasn’t about to go and tell tales. She needed to get through this on her own 

Todays session was just the straw that broke the camels back, She knew that everyone had to pass the situational training to graduate to full Agent and 50% of the review was based on her physical performance and they knew the same thing. Today they had to raid a Hydra building, retrieve the data and files on their operations. The file had noted that there could be hostages, and if any were found then they should be brought out. They team was to rendezvous back at the insertion point with 4 hours of breaching the building. It was a simple enough mission on paper, and she had spent the night before planning and coming up with contingencies, identifying risks and other exit routes, Everything was clear in her mind and she thought that this time she would be able to show that she knew what she was doing. It would impact her passing mark but she would still graduate. 

Captain Rogers and Tony Stark were running todays scenario and had thrown a curve ball when they had announced that the Avengers wouldn't be running point, names would be drawn electronically for the next few simulations with the Trainee Agents taking on Team Leader duties. Belle’s heart had fallen when Jackson’s name was called.

“OK TA Jackson, you’re up. The success of todays simulation is in your hands” Captain Rogers had nodded over to an area set up with hollo maps and schematics. “you have 30 minutes for planning then we want your team mustered at entrance point Alpha at 0700 hours”

“Have fun kids” Tony snarked as he and the Captain walked away “and remember - we know and see all”

Belle’s heart felt like it would pound out of her chest as she walked over and waited for Jackson to kick off the brief

“OK so here’s what’s gonna happen, Burns you’re gonna lead group 2 with Smith, Timmons, East and Porter. I’m gonna head up group one with the rest of you. The plan is pretty easy group one will head directly through the main doors. It’s the fastest way to reach the main control room, that’s likely to be where they have the data. Group 2 you’re gonna provide cover from the insertion point, when we radio clear you're gonna follow us in, take the same route and head off down to zone 2 and see if there are any POW’s. We will meet back at the evac point”.

Belle couldn’t help but scowl, the plan he laid out was flawed, taking the same route was predictable and her group couldn’t provide adequate cover from the insertion point, there wasn’t adequate space or cover and they were all left prone to fire from the second and third levels of the building they had to clear. It was likely that the computer files would be in the control room, but there was a secured room on the second floor which is where she would have stored the files. 

“Excuse me Agent Jackson, I don’t think that we can la down sufficient cover fire from the locations that you id’d and I don’t think that the control room will have the files we’re looking for”

Jacksons eyes had been hard as he glared at her “ Well gee thanks for your input TA Porter, but I’ve detailed the plan. If you don’t think that you can handle it then you know where the door is”. He moved forward until he loomed over her. “You see little girl what you fail to realize is that books aren’t the real world and as you’ve shown, time and again, in the real world - you don’t have a clue” His eyes drifted down and focused on her chest “If you can’t handle it then maybe there is a job somewhere that you can use your other…talents”. Belle couldn’t control the blush that covered her cheeks, and her firsts clenched as she controlled the urge to tell him to just fuck off. She gritted her teeth to avoid saying what she was thinking before trying again

“If we used the smaller insertion area then we would be able to ……”

“Jesus Christ Porter will you shut the fuck up and learn to follow orders. Maybe you could learn from those of us that aren’t about to flunk out of training” Jacksons finger was in her face “If you open your mouth again I’ll find something useful for it to do” he sneered before turning away, “Now does anyone else have an actual point to make? No - excellent then go get ready - we’ll assemble and check in at 0700”

Belle pulled in deep breaths as she tried to reign in her emotions, having her flaws pointed out the way he just did was humiliating, and the way he spoke to her infuriated her, the anger and frustration had tears threatening to fall and she wouldn't give him that pleasure. 

The mission had run as she expected it would. Two members of group 1 had been shot and injured, her group offered insufficient cover due to their position and they were held off from moving by the mock Hydra agents. As they had crossed the open ground, without cover, Burns has ordered her to help with Michaels, an injured member from group 1. The man weighed 220 lbs and was well over 6ft tall and compared to Belle’s smaller lighter frame he was a giant. Belle had managed to get him on his feet and had supported him to cover before she had to take a break. She was panting and sweating and needed to take two minutes but Burns had ordered another team member to help Michaels and then moved them out to head to the lower levels.

Over the coms she could hear group one and Jackson shouting about the fact that they couldn’t find the data. She tried to block out their conversations as they progressed slowly through he levels, They had found the POW’s and Belle had been able to crack the lock on the door and had stayed as guard as ordered. When the Hydra agents had stormed their position Belle had been left to hold the line despite calling for help for a couple of minutes. She had taken a few blows to her ribs in the process but they had held the location and been able to head out to the extraction point where they provided cover again for group 1 when they eventually made It out. 

The scenario had ended when they had made it to the evac location where they were greeted by Stark and Rogers “Ok so it looks like we have the POW’s” Tony held out his hand “The data and files?”

“No data was found on site, only these paper files” Jackson handed over a thin brown folder

“Really? This was it? There were no other papers” Tony looked over the top of his glasses, a single eye brow raised on question 

“There were other papers but they didn’t seem relevant” Belle hung her head, that was obviously not the right thing to say

“Mmm well that’s an interesting thought now isn’t it, especially as you’ve brought me back a schematic for a Stark Industries design that’s been in production for 5 years”. 

She could hear the annoyance in his voice. - they had fucked up and it was likely that this was the last scenario they would let them run if this was what happened

“Ok and how are your men?” Captain Rogers asked

“We have some minor injuries and gunshot wounds from group 1 and I think a couple of members of group two - any of the others are just snowflakes and they need to get over it”.

She looked up to see Captain Rogers rubbing his hand over his face and drawing in a deep breath “ Well I’m sorry to say that this mission was a failure. You’ve got significantly inured team members, and you didn’t get the intel. Frankly it was a disaster and I’m surprised that any of you got out of this alive. We need to have a full review of this session - be in the debrief room at 1300 hours with your notes on the mission”

The group broke up and Belle took a moment to head over the the holo tables and look over the schematics again, it was hard not to doubt herself.- she had been wrong on so many of these sessions but she was sure that at least some of her suggestions would have worked out better than what happened today. The more that she looked at the data the more that she was sure this would be the case. Either way she supposed it wouldn’t much matter - the whole thing had been a disaster and today it was likely that they would be throwing her out of the training program. 

Heading back to her rooms Belle ran over what she would say at the debrief. She had misstepped when she hadn’t put forth her ideas more clearly, but she also knew that questioning a commanding officer too heavily would be as much of an issue. Moving between the training centre to the barrack tower the cold nipped at her skin and she put her hands under her armpits to try and keep them warm. It was December and the weather was taking every opportunity to remind her of that. As the wind picked up she dipped her head, how was she going to explain to people back at home what had happened? Lost in her thoughts she didn’t pay attention to her surroundings or that fact that Jackson had decided to wait on her

“So you managed to fuck it up again didn’t you Porter. How many more disasters do you think they’ll let you have?” Belle whipped her head up and froze as Jackson circled her before moving up behind her “ I’m pretty sure that this is when you get your walking papers bitch. But you know when I get my credentials - I’ll let you give me a blow job”. 

Belle stiffened as he leant in close to her ear “ You’ll be grateful for it and tell me thank you as you wipe my cum off your face and then you beg for more” 

Belle’s hands formed tight fists and she clenched her jaw. She wouldn’t lower herself to his level. She couldn’t lay hands on him, that would be another black mark on her record that she couldn’t risk and If she opened her mouth then there was a good chance that she would make things worse for herself

Jacksons hands arm banded around her chest under her breasts and he squeezed. Belle hissed as her tender ribs complained at the abuse and she closed her eyes willing herself to be still. She could feel tears of pain and frustration escape from under her closed eyelids knowing that this would just make things worse

“Well well, look at that she cries - just like a woman letting your emotions get the better of you” The scorn in Jacksons voice was clear “Save those tears for when you’re choking on my cock.” His grip loosened and he stepped away “I’ll see you in debrief snowflake”

Belle stood with here eyes closed for another few minutes tears running down her face as she tried to come to terms with the fact that even if today wasn’t her last day of training, she was on borrowed time. The cold made the tears on her face freeze and with a shuddering breath she started back.

Watching over the recording of the mission Belle couldn’t help but cringe - it was a disaster from moment one, with bad decisions and people looking out for themselves and Belle could see them all being canned after this. After months of training they should have been passed such simple blunders. Throughout out the discussions Jackson had argued black was white and pushed blame everywhere than at himself. 

“Alright enough! Lets’ stop running around the problem shall we, The bottom line is that you “ She watched as Tony made eye contact with them all his gaze seeming to linger more on her than the others until she dropped her gaze to her lap “all screwed the pooch. Yes “ He held up a hand to stop Jackson who was about to speak again “you brought home the captives but you left behind the intel. That information could have been critical to attacks that could come, it could allow an organization like Hydra to gain foothold we can’t afford for them to have”  
“The fact is you should all be better than this. We need agents that are capable in the field and right now I am not sure that any of you are any closer to being ready”. Steve added “We’ve been talking and we think that it’s time for you all to have individual progress evals. Porter you wait here, Jackson report to briefing room one the rest of you head to your bunk rooms and we will page you”

Belle’s hear pounded in her chest, this was it, the end of the road. She tried to take in deeper breaths her ribs aching, her palms sweating. She could hear the others leaving the room and the click of the door closing made her jump.

“So TA Porter its eval time how about we start with the shit show today hmm?” Tony Starks voice was warm and somewhat teasing an

“Yes Sir” Belle looked up sitting up straighter in her seat and meeting the eyes of the man who somehow had taken on at least some of the responsibility for assessing new recruits.

‘Yeah, let’s have less of the Sir ok, I want you to break it down for me, Tell me how this simple mission managed to turn onto a circus act hmm. I mean it took what, all of 10 minutes?”

“More like 5 actually Sir…..oh um Tony “

“Well alright then” Belle was surprised to see him smile “Gimme the lowdown agent”

Belle felt like she had been talking for hours when she concluded her breakdown of the session and what she thought she would have done. She had walked through her analysis and answered Tony’s questions. He had brought up some interesting points that she hadn’t considered but overall she felt like her plan would have been a good starting point 

“Well it sounds like you had a good idea of what to do and perhaps it would have worked, but instead you didn't push it with Jackson. Don’t you think that would be an issue in the field”. She watched as Tony sat back in his chair one ankle resting on his other leg, a tumbler of whisky hanging between his finders

“I… I didn’t question him no. Maybe I should but he was the CO and it was clear from minute one he didn’t think my ideas were worth it. I knew that there were flaws, but causing a ruckus when we only had 30 minutes to plan seemed like it would be futile when he wouldn’t do it no matter what”

“And why is that….why wouldn’t your CO listen to you. I mean what you’ve told me today seems sensible, I mean a little dull, but sensible non the less, I’m sure that Capcicle would have thought it was a great plan”

“I’ve made mistakes, the physical training hasn’t been the easiest section for me and I think he was worried I would taint his mission”

“Interesting, I think that there might be a different reason. You see “ Belle watched as his hands flew over controls and another video was projected above the table. She couldn’t hold in her gasp as the footage from her returning after the mission “You see this isn’t the first thing he’s done to you” More button pushing, more videos each of different confrontations she had with Jackson and Burns “There is a reason that you all train here. We like to keep an eye on things. Now see I figured you were just being an independent woman and that you were dealing with it yourself, but then it kept happening, so I did some digging and, well it looks like you’re in over head”.

“I…..um” Belle’s voice cracked as she tried to find some way to explain why she let things continue “I thought that… well if I ignored it then they would stop”

“Yeah ok so, here is the thing that’s not how things work in the real world, assholes will asshole until you teach them not to. I get that you kept yourself to yourself in college and all that, but this is the real world kid and you need to be able to deal with people like him. He’s a small fish in a small pond and SHIELD - well they deal with far bigger and nastier things than him.

Tony stood and moved to the window “Only the best candidates get through this program Belle . We need agents that can deal with changing situations and keep their feet underneath them”  
Belle felt the tears well again. - this was it, the axe would fall here and her dream would be over 

‘I’m going to get straight to the point. I don’t think you are a Feld agent Belle. You have good instincts but you don’t listen to them. You’re a planner, and in the field plans are a little more seat of your pants”

Belle felt the tears fall down her cheeks “I understand Sir”. Her voice wavered and she watched as Tony turned back to her, picking up a file as he went 

“I want you to take this, take some time and read it over and then we will wrap things up here ok”. 

Belle nodded and her hand shook as she took the file before turning to leave. She didn’t notice the way that Tony’s eyes followed her until the door closed behind her. 

Tony sighed as the door closed. He was furious having seen the way that Porter had been treated. The alarm bells had rung when he had seen the interaction between her and Jackson. He had instructed F.R.I.D.A.Y to pull data on their previous interactions and when he and Rogers had looked over the decisions had been clear. Steve had wanted to deal with Jackson which left him with Porter. Dealing with feelings and emotions wasn’t something he wanted to do, dealing with Jackson was more his speed but the Capcicle had been unwavering and so he got the tears and emotions while Cap had all the fun.

Belle sat on her bunk running her hands over the folder, it was, she assumed her final evaluation. The tale of her shortcomings. Quite why Tiny Stark wanted her to read it over sh evident know but he had been clear that she should. One last task before she left the compound, Belle set the file down, looking around her room, taking it all in one last time, Glancing at the window she saw a dark grey sky and it seemed somewhat appropriate that the weather would match her mood. Her hand pulled the file onto her lap and with a deep breath she lifted the cover.

Belle found herself standing on the rooftop of the compound. She had asked F.R.I.D.A.Y for Mr Stark’s location and this is where she had been directed. The AI had even suggested that she wear a jacket. So now here she was, staring into the night, her brain running at what felt like a hundred miles an hour and the winter wind blowing around her.

Looking up at the sky Belle couldn’t help but smile as the prickling cold touched her skin, holding out a hand she watched as a small snowflake landed on her palm

“Did you know that a snowflakes aren’t snow, they’re actually a group of snow crystals all stuck together. It’s kind of like the Avengers you know. Each of us is a different crystal, but when we’re together we become something more. Maybe something beautiful”  
Belle turned around expecting to see Tony Stark but finding instead Iron Man. He was suspended, hovering in mind air about a foot from the edge of the roof.

“You see a lot of people think that they understand something, it’s nature but really they don’t. These little guys are known as diamond dust crystals, the bigger ones as snowflakes, but they are all a sum of their parts. Their shape is defined by their environment, the humidity and temperature. You know they’re not even white, they’re translucent and the light is reflected which makes your eye see white. The thing is knowing what makes up the snowflake doesn’t take away from its wonder.”

He touched down in front of her and opened the face plate “I take it you read over the file”

Belle nodded “Yes, It’s - well it’s not what I expected”

“You figured we had cut you ?”

“Well yeah, I mean I knew that I wasn’t doing well in the practicals. I worked really hard and researched and planned but it just didn’t work out”

“See that’s the thing, all the planning in the world doesn’t always mean shit. Sometimes that means that those of us, the ones out on the front lines, we forget that the planning can make things better. We need reminded of that, and we need people to help us with that”

“Your planning has been close to flawless so far” Belle turned again to see Steve Rogers stood in the doorway “There have been a few gaps, but with more training and experience we think you will be one of the best”

Belle nodded “The training?”

“It’ll continue, but we will pull you from this segment, You will still have physical training, arms training and the other outstanding modules but we will need to add some other tactical sessions with Romanoff and Barton and probable a few others” Tony cut in

“That’s assuming you want to stay” Steve finished

“Want to stay, why wouldn’t I want to stay ? This is what I’ve worked for for years to be a part of a team, a part of SHIELD”

“Well yes I mean nominally you will be a part of SHIELD but you will report to and work with the Avengers primarily. You won’t be a field agent but you will be a part of the team”

“I want this, its’ a different path but I want it. I signed the papers”. Belle held them out to Tony who held up his hand 

“Yeah no I don’t like to be handed things. Capcicle will take that and I’ll see you at training tomorrow”. The whine of the suit picked up as Tony lifted from the ground “Oh I wouldn’t go looking for Jackson and Burns. They are no longer a part of the training program. We look out for our own Porter and there are some things that just aren’t gonna fly here”

Belle could only stare as she watched the man in the Iron suit fly up into the night sky, quickly becoming lost in the swirling flakes of snow.

“You know you should have told us about the way they were treating you Belle. No one would have thought any the less of you” Steve’s voice pulled her attention back to him

“I appreciate that Captain Rogers. I just… I wanted to be strong enough to deal with it myself” she could feel the blush rising 

“I understand why you would want to do that, really I do, but there isn’t any harm in asking for help. Heck that’s what you’re gonna do for the team. The thing is, being in the team, it’s hard, to ask for help, but you’ve got to find a way to be able to do that to make things work, The team it’s like a family and we share the stress”

Belle gave Steve a small smile before dropping his gaze “I understand, and I really appreciate this chance I really do”

“You know I heard what Jackson said to you, on the recording, he called you a snowflake, like it was something bad, something week. That’s not how we see you Belle. Im sure you’re gonna do wonderfully working with us. You’re a new start for us all, now why don’t I take this file and we can head in”

“I’d like to stay here for just a little longer if that’s ok? I need to clear my head” 

“Of course, enjoy the rest of your evening Agent Porter and we will see you at 0800 tomorrow for training “ Steve left, with the file in hand closing the door quietly behind him 

Belle sat and watched the snowflakes fall around her blanketing the ground and earth, those that landed on her melting. The white blanket covered everything turning it into a blank slate, a new beginning. 

Much later, as the compound slept Tony Stark sat at his bench holo screens up as he added details to the clothes projected in front of him. It was the basic SHIELD uniform with a few of his own modifications, extra tensile materials capable of absorbing and repelling gun shot and knife edge while still being flexible and comfortable to wear, On the shoulder of each item he added his final touches. 

“F.R.I.D.A.Y get these into production tomorrow after confirming measurements and send a message to Fury. Let him know we’ve filled the analyst position, She’ll be in place within 3 months. Her designation is Snowflake”. Flicking his hand to close down the files Tony left the lab turning out the lights with another wave.


End file.
